The hottest football team in the area is not Norwalk High or Valley Christian High, the two schools who have consistently advanced to the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section playoffs. It’s actually Gahr High, which is 5-0 and coming off its bye week.

The Gladiators return to the field when they host Lynwood High (3-2 overall) tonight at Dr. Hanford Rants Stadium. Gahr, which has had 3-7 marks the past three seasons, last won five games in 2012. But, Gahr has not opened a season with five straight wins since before 1998. Even when Gahr won 10 games in 2007 and advanced to the semifinals, it went 4-1 in the non league part of its schedule. Gahr is 9-5 in the last 14 meetings with Lynwood including last season’s 21-6 road win in the league opener. The last time the Gladiators defeated the Knights at home was in 2012, a 42-35 victory. The Gladiators are the ninth ranked team in Division 10.

In other football action, Cerritos High will have its bye following a 48-13 loss to Mayfair High last Friday in which the Monsoons held a 14-7 halftime lead. The Dons dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the Suburban League.

Norwalk will try to rebound from its worst Suburban League loss since 1999 when it visits Mayfair High tonight at Ron Yary Stadium. The Lancers were blasted by La Mirada High 62-0 last Friday, the ninth time they have not scored in a league game since 1998. It was La Mirada’s first shutout over Norwalk since 1999 (43-0). That same season, Norwalk was crushed by Mayfair 54-0, which would be the first of four goose eggs it would put up against the Monsoons over a six-year span. Norwalk is the seventh ranked team in Division 9.

Another team enjoying its bye is Valley Christian, which held off St. Anthony High 46-35 last Friday. The Crusaders improved to 4-2 and have won three straight games, scoring at least 42 points in the process. V.C. will also enjoy being ranked fourth in Division 9.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

With the first round league action already done, several area teams look to stay in first place, or remain in contention for a league championship. Gahr High finished off a 25-23, 25-17, 25-19 sweep at Downey High this past Tuesday to improve to 11-6 overall and 4-0 in the circuit prior to an Oct. 6 home match with Dominguez High. It was Gahr’s second straight win at Downey, the fourth win on Downey’s court since 1998 and the first sweep over the Vikings since 1999. Gahr will visit Lynwood High on Tuesday and host Warren High on Thursday.

Valley Christian High went to Maranatha High this past Tuesday night and came away with a 25-9, 25-12, 21-25, 25-11 win to move to 13-10 overall and 4-0 in the Olympic League. The Lady Crusaders are off until they host Village Christian High on Thursday.

Cerritos High and Norwalk High are also in the running for a potential Suburban League crown as the former was 4-1 in league play and the latter 5-1 entering the action on Oct. 6. Mayfair High was undefeated and visited Cerritos on Oct. 6. They’ll meet again at Mayfair on Wednesday.

CROSS COUNTRY

The first Suburban League cluster meet was held at La Mirada regional Park last Thursday and the Norwalk High girls team had a solid performance, picking up 22 points with juniors Misty Diaz and Ruby Galindo claiming the top two spots at 19:21 and 19:38 respectively. Junior Jessica Robles came in fifth place at 20:32 while senior Alejandra De La O was right behind her at 20:37.

Cerritos High came in third place with 82 points with sophomore Jaide Lin the top Lady Dons runner at 21:30, good for ninth place. The next Cerritos runner was junior Brianna Katsuda, who placed 13th with a time of 22:16.

For the boys, Cerritos came in second place with 52 points and was led by junior Jaineel Patel, who came in third place at 16:37. Two spots behind Patel was freshman Cole Sawires Yager with a time of 17:05.

Norwalk High was a distant third with 99 points. The top Lancers runner was senior Edwin Munoz, an 11th place finisher with a time of 17:24.

The top John Glenn High runner was sophomore Antonio Calderon, who came in seventh place with a time of 17:11 while Artesia High junior Jesus Orbe came in eighth place with a time of 17:12. As a team, Glenn was fourth with 107 points. The second league cluster meet will be on Thursday at Cerritos Regional Park.